The Immunology Center of Georgia welcomes all campus faculty, researchers and staff to two kinds of conversations, organized by IMMCG scientists Kunzhe Dong, PhD, and Peipei Zhu, PhD.
These series alternate each week at noon Thursdays in the Georgia Cancer Center's M. Bert Storey Research Building on the first-floor Knox Foundation Community Room, CN1209 (unless otherwise posted). These events are exclusively for students, faculty and staff in the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University and Wellstar MCG Health.
Megh Mehta
Graduate Student IMMCG, AU MCG
Friday, February 28, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “IFNγ-Induction of TH1-Like Regulatory T Cells Controls
Antiviral Responses”
2025
Nandeeni Suryawanshi, MS
Research Associate Immunology Center of Georgia
Thursday, February 20, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: "TOWARDS ANTIGENS AND BIOMARKERS IDENTIFICATION IN SARCOIDOSIS: A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEMS IMMUNOLOGY FRAMEWORK"
Qingkang Lyu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG
Friday, February 21, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “IL-23 Stabilizes an Effector Treg Cell Program in the
Tumor Microenvironment”
APEKSHA ANAND, PHD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG
Friday, February 14, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “Integrative Genotyping of Cancer and Immune Phenotypes by Long-Read Sequencing”
ADIL IJAZ, PHD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG
Thursday, February 13, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “Olfr2 Regulates oxLDL Signaling and Processing, Driving a Proinflammatory Foamy Macrophage Phenotype”
SUCHEN YADAV, PHD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG
Friday, February 7, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “Homeostatic, Non-Canonical Role of Macrophage Elastase in Vascular Integrity"
LAYNE BENSON, BS
Graduate Research Assistant IMMCG
Friday, February 6, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “OLFR2- EXPRESSING MYELOID CELLS MODULATE T CELLACTIVATION AND RESPONSE IN THE TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT”
Gabriel Valentin, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Friday, January 31st, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1203
Title: “CANCER CELLS IMPAIR MONOCYTE-MEDIATED T CELL STIMULATION TO EVADE IMMUNITY”
Lily Liu
First Year PhD Student Biomedical Science Program
Friday, January 24th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 5350
Title: “Systematic Comparison of Sequencing Based Spatial Transcriptomic Methods”
JIANG ZHOU, PHD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Thursday, January 23th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “DISCOVERY OF NOVEL COMBINATORY
BIOMARKERS FOR ATHEROSCLEROSIS”
Anusha Bellapu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Thursday, January 16th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “TREG TO EXTREG CONVERSION”
2024
Yan Wang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Friday, November 22nd, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: "Distinct Bidirectional Regulation of LFA1 and α4β7 by Rap1 and Integrin Adaptors in T cells Under Shear Flow”
Austin Lowery
BCB Program 1st year PhD Student, AU
Thursday, November 21st, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “Spatial Analysis of NETotic Activity in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC)”
Ruibo Cai, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Friday, November 15th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: "Long noncoding RNA LIRIL2R Modulates FOXP3 Levels and Suppressive Function of Human
CD4+
Regulatory T Cells by Regulating IL2RA”
Aderonke Fakayode
MOI, PhD Student IMMCG, MCG, AU
Thursday, November 14th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING IN IMMUNE CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH CORONARY ARTERY DISEASES”
Austin Lowery
BCB Program 2nd year PhD Student, AU
Friday, September 27th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “CXCR6 ORCHESTRATES BRAIN CD8+ T CELL RESIDENCY AND LIMITS MOUSE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE PATHOLOGY”
William B. Kiosses, PhD
Program Projects Core Microscopy Director and Senior Staff Scientist, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Tuesday, September 24th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “IMAGING THE SACRIFICIAL NEUTROPHIL IMMUNE RESPONSE”
Ruibo Cai, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Thursday, September 19th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: “Crosstalk between Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells
and Immune Cells in Atherosclerosis”
Gabriel Valentin, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Thursday, September 12th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: "Exploring the Role of CXCR3+ Monocytes in
Enhancing Anti-Tumor Immunity in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Models”
Mohammad Oliaeimotlagh, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow, IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Friday, September 6, CN 1203
Title: “TARGETING PRO-INFLAMMATORY T CELLS AS A
NOVEL THERAPEUTIC APPROACH TO POTENTIALLY RESOLVE ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN HUMANS”
Khalia Cummings
Biomedical Sciences PhD Student, VBC, IMMCG, MCG, AU
Thursday, September 5th, at 12:00 p.m., CN 1209
Title: "The Role of Olfactory Receptor 2 in the Initiation and Progression of Atherosclerosis”
Gabriel Valentin, PhD
Ph.D. Candidate, IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Friday, August 30, CN 1203
Title: "ZBTB46 COORDINATES ANGIOGENESIS AND IMMUNITY TO CONTROL TUMOR OUTCOME”
Ogacheko Okoko
Ph.D. Candidate IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Friday, August 23rd, CN 1203
Title: "Persistent STAT5 activation reprograms the epigenetic landscape in CD4+ T cells to drive polyfunctionality and antitumor immunity”
YAN WANG, PH.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, June 13th, CN 1209
Title: “TALIN AND KINDLIN COOPERATE TO CONTROL THE DENSITY OF INTEGRIN CLUSTERS”
Rudolf Lucas, PhD
VBC, Department, Pharmacology & Toxicology, AU
Noon, Tuesday, June 11th, CN 1209
Title: "A NOVEL PEPTIDE-BASED THERAPEUTICSTRATEGY TOWARDS ARDS"
Smriti Parashar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, May 30th, CN 1209
Title: “Mitochondrial Complex III is Essential for Suppressive Function of Regulatory T Cells”
QINGKANG LYU, PHD
Postdoctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, May 16th, CN 1209
Title: “REGULATORY T CELLS RESTRAIN INTERLEUKIN-2- AND BLIMP-1-DEPENDENT ACQUSITION OF CYTOTOXIC FUNCTION BY CD4+ T CELLS”
Kunzhe Dong, PhD
Assistant Professor Department, Pharmacology & Toxicology IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, May 9th, CN 1209
Title: "LONG NON-CODING RNAS AND CELLULAR CROSSTALK IN VASCULAR DISEASES"
Ogacheko Okoko
Ph.D. Candidate IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, April 30, CN 1209
Title: “IL7 INCREASES TARGETED LIPID NANOPARTICLE-MEDIATED MRNA EXPRESSION IN T CELLS IN VITRO AND IN VIVO BY ENHANCING T CELL PROTEIN TRANSLATION”
Mohammad Oliaeimotlagh, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow, IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, February 29, CN 1209
Title: “DISSECTING CELL IDENTITY VIA NETWORK INFERENCE AND IN SILICO GENE PERTURBATION”
Layne Benson
Graduate Student IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, February 29, CN 1209
Title: "SLAN+ MONOCYTES KILL CANCER CELLS COATED IN THERAPEUTIC ANTIBODY BY TROGOPTOSIS”
Megh Mehta
Graduate Student IMMCG, AU MCG
Noon, Thursday, February 15, CN 1209
Title: "TALIN AND KINDLIN USE INTEGRIN TAIL ALLOSTERY
AND DIRECT BINDING TO ACTIVATE INTEGRINS"
Natalia Jaeger, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow IMMCG, MCG, AU
Noon, Thursday, February 1, CN 1209
Title: "MACROPHAGE AND NEUTROPHIL HETEROGENEITY AT SINGLE-CELL SPATIAL RESOLUTION IN HUMAN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE"
Peter Biggs, PhD
Graduate Research Assistant AU
Noon, Thursday, January 18, CN 1209
Title: "NAD+ REGULATES NUCLEOTIDE METABOLISM AND GENOMIC DNA REPLICATION"
Kunal Kumar, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow BMB, AU
Noon, Thursday, January 11, CN 1209
Title: "UFL1 REGULATES T CELLS EXHAUSTION"
2023
Amir Khan, Ph.D
Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. CN 1209
Title:“RIMODAL SINGLE-CELL PROFILING REVEALS A NOVEL PEDIATRIC CD8αα+ T CELL SUBSET AND BROAD AGE-RELATED MOLECULAR REPROGRAMMING ACROSS THE T CELL COMPARTMENT”
Mohammad Yeashin Gazi, Ph.D
Thursday, November 16, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. CN 1209
Title: “Vaccine-boosted Car T Crosstalk With Host Immunity To Reject Tumors With Antigen Heterogeneity”
Francis Anazodo, BPharm
Thursday, November 2, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. CN 1209
Title: “Regulation of the Terminal Maturation Of iNKT Cells By Mediator Complex Subunit 23”
Kunal Kumar, PhD
Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. CN 1209
Title: “MYB Orchestrates T Cell Exhaustion And Response to Checkpoint Inhibition”
Ogacheko Okoko
Sunil Kumar, Ph.D.
Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. CL 1101
Title: “TCF-1 regulates HIV-Specific CD8+ T cell Expansion Capacity”
Layne Benson, BS
Thursday, August 24, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. CN 1209
Title: "Single-cell RNA-sequencing identifies anti-cancer immune phenotypes in the early lung metastatic niche during breast cancer.”
Yan Wang, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Title: "Flow cytometry based-FRET: basics, novel developments and future perspectives”
QingKang Lyu, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Title: "Talin variant P229S compromises integrin activation and associates with multifaceted clinical symptoms”
Kunal Kumar, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Title: "Deletion of SNX9 alleviates CD8 T cell exhaustion for effective cellular cancer immunotherapy”
Sunil Kumar, Ph.D.
Journal Club Gathering
Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Title: "A critical role for TCF-1 in T-lineage specification and differentiation”
